Review of The World's Fastest Indian (2005) by Timothy E — 26 Dec 2007

(Originally written as part of a 2006 Top 10 List - Number 7).

This was in fact my number 2 film of the year for a good six months and I'm a little saddened and confused to see it finally landing at number 7. This only goes to show that lists are limiting, exasperating, largely futile exercises, in that they're always seeking to make those great intangible feelings a movie like this gives you concrete, by forcing them into some kind of comparable pecking order.

Forced to compare, I'd say that THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN was a rare and singular cinematic experience of 2006, giving me a response as hard to describe as it is to pin down a sure-fire formula for this kind of filmmaking. If anything INDIAN only adds weight to my argument that while anyone can blow something up, lavish us with gratuitous sex and violence and be knowingly controversial, it is plainly "nice films" such as these, that really are the hardest kind to make.

One of the reasons for it's lower placing is probably only because, those films above it I'm simply likely to watch a lot more than this.

Though I have watched it twice now, and a huge testament to it's greatness is that even though on first viewing, where you know pretty much exactly where it's headed, both times I saw it I'll quite openly confess I got more than a little misty eyed. As the movie's tagline proclaims this is one hell of a true story and they weren't lying.

At the center of this inspirational tale we meet New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle - a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967. A cut to the quick, more endearing summation, is that it's a film about an old coot and his motorcycle. Far beyond the basic plot description though, the material adds up to really being about a kind of heroism that has gone out of style. This alone, goes a long way to clarifying the intentions and heartbreaking results of this little gem.

Burt Monroe as portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in my favourite performance of his career, is a captivating character in that he, like the film he is in, is so straightforward. This is a man so fixed on his dream that anyone he comes into contact with simply can't help but do what they can to help him. There are no villains in this movie, only bad luck and circumstance. The way Munro overcomes adversity is as incredibly charming as it is inspirational and we're so behind him every step of the way that even the most minor of setbacks impacts as a crushing blow given that we have a definite sense of just how fragile he is in the last stage of his life.

The mastery of Hopkins' portrayal is in the physicality of the character, exposing someone very much in the twilight of his years, yet completely contradicting this with Munroe's resilient spirit. Monroe is revealed as blissfully unaware of the fact that he is perhaps too old to accomplish what he sets out to achieve and wouldn't believe it if you told him that to his face. He may be on the way out, but his thirst for adventure never aged beyond that of a teenager.

In the first half of the movie, I was moved to tears by the impression of a substantial life already lived which Hopkins conveys so truthfully. He reminded me very much of my own Granddad in fact, as I'm sure he will remind many of you of yours, not only in that he comes from arguably a much simpler and better generation and time, but that in his old age, Munroe is marked by the symptoms of his years; he has moments of selective hearing, he often repeats himself and is imbued him with a sense of total defiance against anything that isn't done the way he would do it. Hopkins is firing on all cylinders here; in compete control of every subtle shift of temperament, register and gravity in Munroe's journeyman ordeal. It's inspirational stuff to see such a bright fire burning in the heart of someone many would consider "past it" and to not be moved would single you out as having a heart of stone.

While the cynics will say this is a by the numbers road movie filled with the requisite amount of quirky characters - after all they're right: a transvestite hotel clerk, a wise old native American, Munroe's one night stand widower who lives in the middle of nowhere and a happy go lucky extravagant rich tycoon to name a few, but when these parts are all so superbly written, with as much attention given to fleshing them out as the lead character, and the casting of everyone in these parts so immaculate, who am I or anyone to complain? This is after all what TRANSAMERICA; one of the most critically lauded films of '06 didn't do so nearly as well. A friend of mine who saw the movie with me the first time, agreed that the movie ticks all the boxes, but it ticks them the right way and does so with such assuredness that it never puts a foot wrong. Whatever you might think of it, it is 10 out of 10 in pulling of this approach to the story. In a perfect world, this really ought to have appealed to a much bigger audience and in terms of heart-warming success stories, this should have been the year's WHALE RIDER. Now that it's on video, please don't resign it to its unfair theatrical fate. You owe it to yourself to see this and when you have, spread the word and pass it on to others. If you are lucky enough to see this, give people in your life a similar chance to be so fortunate.